2024 Graduation Awards

Tom Cheung

B. 1990 in Vancouver BC, Tom Chung is an independent industrial designer who established his eponymous studio in 2016. His work is defined by his international background and context driven approach that is grounded in smart production methods and contemporary culture. The studio works with industry to develop objects for domestic, institutional and public environments. He is based between Canada and The Netherlands.

Manon Fraser

Manon Fraser works independently as a graphic designer, writer and performer within the cultural arts sector. After living in Vancouver, BC, she relocated to Amsterdam to complete her MA in graphic design at Werkplaats Typografie, ArtEz University in Arnhem, Netherlands. Her personal practice revolves around her interests in apperception, hyper-intellectualism, melodrama and the mundane. She has shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery (CAD), Kunstverein (NL) and Het Hem (NL). Currently, she is running and curating a text-led series in Arnhem titled “open mic ‘for the…’”, a session of performative readings led by artists and designers.

Jae Lew

Jae Lew is a transdisciplinary new media artist and filmmaker working with ceramics, 16mm film, electronics, illustration and sound. They are an arts educator who is especially passionate about working with neurodiverse students and creating non-hierarchical, play and exploration based learning environments where students are encouraged to be their whole selves. Jae was born and currently resides on the stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They hold a Bachelors in New Media Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and currently work for The New Media Gallery.

Viviana Palacios

Viviana brings over twenty years of expertise in VFX, animation, and gaming, evolving from a seasoned artist to a guiding force as a mentor and recruiter. With a deep understanding of various creative sectors, she is fluent in the language, tools, and intricacies of the 3D pipeline from an artist's perspective. Beyond her role as a content creator, she imparts invaluable career guidance through job search and portfolio workshops, mentorship circles, and insightful LinkedIn content. Actively involved in industry advocacy, Vivana holds positions on the board and leads mentorship recruitment efforts for WIA (Women in Animation), champions as a Women in Games Ambassador, and volunteers with the Visual Effects Society (VES).

Kirk Tougas

Kirk Tougas is a noted experimental film artist, director of photography, producer, director, curator, past Trustee of the Vancouver Art Gallery, initiator of Xinema and founder of the Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver, Canada.

With over 250 professional credits, he is recognized as one of Canada’s pre-eminent feature documentary cinematographers. Representing many cultural, anthropological, social and political themes, these films have been broadcast on every major network and have garnered more than 80 international festival awards, including Emmy and Peabody awards and 13 awards and nominations from the Canadian Academy of Cinema.

Creator of numerous experimental films, he has been described as a structural or conceptual artist. His experimental and personal films have broadly pursued three themes: the inherent nature of the film medium (and later, the digital video medium) and its message; portraiture and self-imaging as a human phenomenon from cave walls to the Selfie; and the poetics of a medium composed of image, sound and time.

Nominated for a Canadian Academy Award, he is best known for the politics of perception and the medium is the message, which, along with his other works, have been distinguished with screenings and installations in museums, universities, art schools, biennales and film/video festivals.

Pantea Haghighi

Vancouver-based Pantea Haghighi is an independent curator and currently a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University. With a BA in Art History from UBC, she undertook graduate-level research on modernism and architecture at her alma mater. Drawing upon her collaborations with individuals from diverse cultures, she brings communities together for discussion and exchanging ideas. Her curatorial projects include Gohar Dashti: Dissonance, West Vancouver Art Museum (2020); Looking at Persepolis: The Camera in Iran, 1850–1930, The Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver (2018); Modernism in Iran, Griffin Art Projects, North Vancouver (2018); and Unsent Dispatches from the Iranian Revolution, 1978–1979, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver; Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon; and Windsor Art Gallery, Ontario (2005).

Evan Lee

Evan Lee (b. 1975) received his MFA from the University of British Columbia in 2000. He is known for exhibitions of his experimental painting and photo-based work as well as for teaching and writing. Lee was selected as the West Coast and the Yukon finalist for the 2014 Sobey Art Award.

Past exhibitions include: Monte Clark Gallery; CSA Space; Art Gallery at Evergreen; Trapp Projects; Teck Gallery; the Libby Leshgold Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery; the Richmond Art Gallery; Kamloops Art Gallery; Vancouver Art Gallery; Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver); Presentation House Gallery (N.Vancouver), Contact Photography Festival (Toronto); Le Mois de la Photo à Montreal; the Liu Hai Su Museum (Shanghai); Consolidated Works (Seattle) and Confederation Gallery (Charlottetown).

Evan Lee’s work has been featured and reviewed in Border Crossings, Flash Art International, Lapiz International Art Magazine, Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Canadian Art, and Art on Paper and was commissioned for public art projects for River Park Place (Richmond BC), Capture Photography Festival and the City of Richmond.

Lee has taught at the Emily Carr University and UBC. He served on the Board of Directors of Centre A, was a founder of Mobil Art School, and is represented by Monte Clark Gallery in Vancouver.

Gailan Ngan

Gailan Ngan (Canadian, b. 1971, Cumberland, BC) works and lives in
Vancouver and occasionally works from Hornby Island, BC. Her practice
involves pottery, sculpture and co-managing her late father’s art
estate.

Ngan's work spans pottery, sculpture, and painting, as well as a deep
exploration of material histories. She utilizes clay acquired from
commercial suppliers as well as clay and materials sourced from the
natural landscape. In recent years, Ngan has incorporated highly
textured materials and surfaces in her work, imbuing them with a
tactile richness reminiscent of geological formations. Incorporating
elements such as grogs and pulverized insulation brick, her surfaces
emerge as landscapes of texture, marked by irregularities and dents
that echo the passage of time and the forces of nature. This tactile
language is often further explored through the lens of modern
technology, including the translation of forms into the realm of
digital fabrication through 3D scanning and printing techniques.

Ngan graduated with a BFA from Emily Carr University in 2002. She has
shown work at the Esker Foundation, Cooper Cole, The Apartment, San
Diego Art Institute, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Art Gallery at Evergreen,
Kamloops Art Gallery, Unit 17 and The Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2015
she received the North West Ceramic Foundation Award. Ngan is
represented by Monte Clark Gallery (Vancouver) and Galerie Christian
Lethert (Cologne).